Caving with John

Caving with John, a set on Flickr.

Another part of my trips to the Pangmapa District of Northern Thailand, involves exploring caves with John Spies who has lived in the region for 35 years now and has literally recorded and documented hundreds and hundreds of caves.

One that John returns to often is not far from his guest house in Baan Tham Lod, Cave Lodge.

This one is called Christmas Cave and John first heard about it quite a while back when some of his guests were wondering around looking for caves amongst the limestone karst formations that dot the valleys and hillsides of the Pangmapa district.

This one has a stream flowing into it that drops down dramatically among flowstone and through numerous stalacmites which form towers and small sentinals, to a sump well below.

It was filled with large bats and the sound of small waterfalls and fast flowing water, as well as the constant drips from the ceiling that have been for millenia, forming pools of clear water captured in flowstone depressions.

There was much to photograph and explore but this was my first experience of cave photography and I fought fogged lenses, damp conditions and a 2 near flat camera batteries.

This is what I captured...